MARKET REPORT: Petrofac gushes after talk of bid

Jersey-based oil services group Petrofac jumped 20p to 1706p on hopes that its days of independence are numbered.

Punters piled in amid talk that Halliburton, one of the world’s largest oilfield services companies with operations in more than 70 countries, is lining up a cash bid in the region of £8.6billion or £25 a share.

To succeed, any interested bidder would have to get the agreement of Petrofac’s publicity-shy multi-millionaire chief executive Ayman Asfari to stand any chance of success.

Cash bid: Halliburton is thought to have made an offer to buy Petrofac

Along with family interests, he owns
more than 27 per cent of Petrofac and has been the driving force behind
the group since flotation at 215p in 2005.

Petrofac was once an US firm but was
bought out by Asfari in 2001 and listed four years later. He has turned
it into one of the leading companies in its field with major
construction projects in the North Sea, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

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Halliburton’s major business segment
is the Energy Services division which provides technical products and
services for the petroleum and natural gas exploration and production. Petrofac would appear to be a perfect bolt-on.

Easier at the outset on worries about Italy’s position in the eurozone
after prime minister Mario Monti announced his decision to resign once
the 2013 budget has been passed in parliament, and ongoing concerns over
the looming fiscal cliff, the Footsie rallied late to close 7.23 points
to the good at 5,921.63.

London’s late rally owed much to Wall
Street which rose 33 points in the early stages amid growing optimism
that US policy officials are close to agreeing a deal to avoid the
cliff.

Replacement hip group Smith &
Nephew rose 12.5p to 678.5p on an Investec buy recommendation and target
price of 730p. The broker is bullish about the group’s recent
acquisition of Healthpoint Biothereapeutics which it says is a good
strategic fit, both in terms of products and sales force.

Kazakh miner Eurasian Natural
Resources shed 6.8p to 276.2p. The miner said it expected an internal
inquiry into allegations of corruption at its international operations
to reach an ‘amicable conclusion’ in the first quarter of next year.

Chairman Mehmet Dalman reassured
investors by saying that most of the data gathering for the
investigation had been completed and there were no elements causing
concern.

Nervous selling ahead of today’s
interims left Carpetright’s shares looking threadbare at 666.5p, down
28.5p. Back in October Britain’s biggest floor covering retailer posted a
small rise in underlying second-quarter sales at its core UK business.

Domino’s Pizza edged 1.5p higher to
503.5p despite a Panmure Gordon sell recommendation. The broker points
out that Pizza Hut Delivery, its largest competitor, has announced
ambitious expansion plans to open at least 100 stores by the end of 2014
which represents a threat to Domino’s own store opening target of 60 a
year.

Andor Technology soared 19.5p or 5
per cent to 399.5p after the leader in the development and manufacture
of high performance scientific digital cameras for academic, industrial
and government applications reported better-than-expected annual
results.

FinnCap reiterated its buy
recommendation, saying the shares are rated cheaply if you believe the
group’s historic rating as a growth stock will return.

News of a significant contract win
lifted Amino Technologies 2.75p to 67.5p. The company has won a contract
to secure live media gateway set top boxes to a leading European
telecoms provider. The operator will deploy the devices as part of an
enhanced offering delivering pay-TV and over the top services alongside
mobile and fixed line services.

Blur, the business-to-business online
procurement company, added a penny to 75p after announcing that eBay is
using blur’s Global Services Exchange for procuring content projects
with a significant initial value.

Energy management consultancy
Utilitywise firmed 0.5p to 85.5p. It is now a recognised supplier of the
Energy Efficient Financing scheme, a joint initiative between the
Carbon Trust and Siemens Financial Services.

Small selling on the back of a
disappointing trading update left Nature Group 8.75p, or 29 per cent, to
a 52-week low of 21p. A number of contracts that were expected to come
through in the current financial year have been delayed and not replaced
with other potential alternative work.

Advanced Computer Software added
1.75p to a 52 week high of 69.25p as analysts gave the thumbs up to its
£7.25million cash acquisition of Serco Learning, an education software
vendor. It provides business software solutions to educational
institutions and local authorities, mostly in the UK but also in Ireland
and Asia Pacific.